Heating device for therapeutical purposes



Nov. 8, 1938. .w. w. DE LANEY 2361043 HEATING DEVICE FOR THERAPEUTICALPURPOSES Filed Dec'. 8, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1 I

Patented Nov. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEATING DEVICEFORTHERAPEUTICAL PURPOSES Wallace W. De Laney, New r Haven, Conn., as-

signor to The Seamless Rubber Company, Inc., New Haven, Conn., acorporation of Massachusetts Application December 87 1936, Serial No.114,744y

1 Claim.

:a heating medium.

It is advantageous to provide a device of this character with insulatingmeans, because when, for-example, the ordinary bag is filled with veryhot Water, itis-too hot to be applied directly to the flesh of the user,and it is an advantageous feature of such devices if they are soconstructed that one of the outside walls may be provided with some kindof insulating means, while the other wall may not be provided with suchmeans, so that a greater degree of heat or temperature maybe deliveredfrom one side than from the other.

It is-contemplated by the present invention to provide abag or` otherheating devicehaving upon at least one face or wall a plurality of thinupstanding ribs disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation,these ribs preferably being formed integral with the wall of the bagupon which they are disposed, and being relatively thin whereby they arevery iiexible and capable of being turned or bent over by relativelyslight pressure upon them.

These ribs are of suflicient height to space the Wall of the bottle orbag from the surface with which the ribs contact, and provide aplurality of air channels between this surface and the wall of the bag.As shown, these air channels will be open at the ends through the spacebetween the ribs where the latter terminate, so that a plurality ofopen-ended air channels or spaces will' be provided between the wall ofthe bag and the surface upon which the bag is placed.

If desir-ed, it will be understood that both Walls or both faces of thebag may be provided with these upstanding ribs, but preferably one sideof the bag will be left plain so that, if the full heat (or cold) isdesired, the plain side of the bag may be used, while if a reducedtemperature from the bag or bottle is desired, the ribbed side is placednext to the body of the user. It has been found, for example, that whenusing the device as a hot water bottle, a difference of temperature offrom 10 to 15 is obtained by using the ribbed side of the bag from thatobtained by using the plain side.

One object of the invention is the provision of a hot Water bottle orsimilar article formed of rubber and provided upon at least one facewith improved means for insulating the body of the articleffrom theysurfaceupon which it is laid.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a hot waterbottle made of rubber or like material provided upon at least one face fwith a plurality of thin upstanding ribs designed to Contact with thesurface upon which the bot Atle is laid and space the wallof thebottlefrom such surface.

Still another object of the invention is` the provision of a hot waterbottle made of rubber or some similar material provided upon at leastone face thereof with a plurality of integrally formed thin upstandingribs disposed in substantially parallel relation designed to space theWall of the bottle fromV the surface upon which it is laid, andproviding open-ended air channels betweenthe wallof the bottle and thissurface so as to insulate the latter from the bottl-e.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations ofv parts to be hereinafter-described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View of a hot Water bottle embodying myimprovements;

Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the reverse side of the bottle;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on line 3--3 of Fig. 2, While Fig. 4 is afragmentary sectional view on line l-Jl of Fig. 2, and

Figs. 5 to 8 of the drawings show side elevational views of modifiedforms of my invention.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown a hotwater bottle I ofthe conventional shape and configuration, the bottlebeing preferably formed of rubber so as to be Water-tight and relativelysoft and iiexible, as is usual with such devices made of this material.As shown, the body of the bottle is of a generally rectangular shape,being provided at its upper end with a filling neck II, and having atboth upper and lower ends tabs I2 and I 3 by which the bottle may behung when not in use.

As shown in Fig. 1, the outer face of one wall I4 of the bottle is plainor smooth, the bottle, as stated, being formed of rubber, and this face`or surface having the usual characteristics of sheet rubber in devicesof this character. The opposite wall I of the bottle is provided uponits outer face with a plurality of upstanding ribs I6. These ribs, itwill be noted, are quite thin and are arranged in parallel spacedrelation, thus providing between them air channels Which are open at theends adjacent the edges of the bottle where the ribs terminate. Theseribs will preferably also be of rubber and formed integrally with theWall I5 of the bottle, so that they are soft and flexible, and are ofsufficient depth or height so that, while they will be bent or turnedover to some extent by a slight pressure, they will neverthelessmaintain the wall I5 ofthe bottle in spaced relation to any surface uponwhich the bottle is laid. That is, when the bottle is lled with waterand laid upon a surface, the pressure due to the weight of the bottleand contents will cause the ribs I6 to be bent over to some extent, butnot sufliciently to permit the wall of the bottle to contact directlywith the surface upon which it is laid. Thus there will be formedbetween the wall I5 and such surface a plurality of open-ended airchannels to insulate the Wall of the bottle from the surface.

Thus wh-en the device is'used as a hot water bottle, the degree oftemperature delivered from the ribbed Wall f the bottle Will be from 10t0v 15 less than that delivered from the plain face I4 in use. Eitherface of the bottle as desired may be employed, that is, placed next tothe user, for example, or the two faces of the bottle may be usedalternately, the ribbed side employed when the bottle is first filledwith hot water and vthe plain side employed after the contents of thebottle have cooled to some extent. It will also be found that thesoft'flexible upstanding ribs will be quite comfortable when placed nextto the iiesh of the user, as these ribs will be turned or bent over bythe weight of the bottle and will not seem sharp or irritating.

In Fig. of the drawings I have shown in elevation a hot vvater bottlewherein the ribs 63 extend in a vertical direction instead ofdiagonally, as shown in Fig. 2. Tn Fig'. 6 of the drawings the ribs IBbare also vertically extending but are discontinuous ribs; that is, inthis case each rib may be described as a broken line. In this casesubstantially the same eifect is produced as when the ribs arecontinuous, except that additional provision is made for circulation ofair. In Fig. 7 of the drawings the ribs I6c are shown as discontinuous,transversely extending ribs, While in Fig. 8 of the drawings the face ofthe bottle is covered with arcuate or curved ribs. vIn each case theribs are substantially parallel and are spaced from each other so thatan air channel is provided between them, and also in each case the ribsare relatively long and thin or narrow, so that they will not constitutesharp, stiff projecting surfaces which would be uncomfortable to theuser. It will, of course, be understood that in any of these forms, asin the forms shown in Figs. l to 4 of the drawings, the ribs may beprovided upon both sides of the bag or bottle if desired.

While I have shown and described some preferred embodiments of myinvention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all ofthe details shown, but is capable of modification and variation withinthe spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claim.It will, of course be understood that the Yheating device need notnecessarily be in the form of a bottle or bag, and that the nature ofthe heating medium contained within the rubber body is also subject tovariation.

What I claim is:

A heating device for therapeutical purposes, comprising a rubber bodycontaining a heating medium, said body having upon a surface thereof amultiplicity of outstanding elastic ns, said fins being in parallelrelationand thin and flexible so as to carry off heat by radiation andflex to one side or the other under light pressure as When the device islaid against the users body, said ns being closely spaced to providenarrow parallel air passages therebetween and increase the radiation andat the same time space the body of the device effectively from the bodyof the user.

WALLACE W. DE LANEY.

